Many medical procedures entail inserting a catheter into an artery to gain access to the body's vasculature to perform various medical or surgical procedures. A preferred location for accessing the femoral artery is at the femoral crease where the upper thigh joins the groin. In order to avoid introducing pathogenic microorganisms into the body's vasculature or blood stream, it is necessary to maintain a sterile field in the vicinity of the puncture that is made to access the femoral artery.
It is estimated that about forty million Americans are obese and an even larger number are overweight. Patient's that are obese are at higher risk of vascular disease including coronary artery disease as well as other health problems. An increasing number of patients that present for procedures that utilize a femoral puncture are overweight or obese.
Between five and fifteen percent of patients who present for femoral puncture procedures to insert a catheter are obese or overweight to the point that they have excess abdominal tissue that covers the artery access site. In order to gain access to the femoral artery at the femoral crease and to maintain a sterile field for the femoral puncture it is necessary that the excess abdominal tissue be repositioned away from the femoral crease. Current procedure in preparing the patient for femoral puncture calls for taping the excess abdominal tissue with surgical tape in an attempt to move it away from the femoral access site. Utilizing surgical tape to support the excess abdominal tissue requires preparing the skin for application of the tape. Preparation can include shaving hair from the skin in the areas where the tape must adhere to the body. When the procedure is completed the tape must be removed from the patient's body, which can be painful for the patient. Because the effectiveness of this approach will necessarily vary from patient to patient, the potential for the tape to give way during the surgical procedure is a significant problem.
Generally when there is excess abdominal tissue that must be moved away from the access site, two caregivers must work together to lift the excess tissue and apply the tape so as to allow access to the femoral artery. The requirement of two caregivers is inefficient and also requires that two care providers initially prepare the patient by taping the abdominal tissue and then proceed to scrub to maintain the sterile field.
An improved method and apparatus for supporting abdominal tissue away from the femoral puncture site will provide benefits to both the patient and the physician.